Friday 7 March

Having a morning of nasty weather here. As I type, snow is falling, after a couple of heavy hail showers, all propelled by a force 7 westerly wind, which is gusting in excess of 65 mph in the southern isles. The ferry is off until at least this evening, due to adverse weather I should add. The Tarbert ferry is off as well, as is the Sound of Harris service. During a hailshower, visibility falls to barely 200 yards - flurries of snow follow. Temperature 2C / 36F. The contrast with the south of England is remarkable; a station in Oxfordshire reports 14C / 57F!

After two substantial hail showers, the sun is out - and behind glass, it's feeling quite warm. However, outside it remains perishing cold. The wind has abated somewhat, now blowing at force 6 from the west. Mercury in the south of England now crossing the 60F mark, with four locations at 16C. Here in the Western Isles, it's between 4 and 6C (39 to 43F). That temperature contrast is generating all this interesting weather. At the end of the day, there was just wall-to-wall sunshine... Strange day

Was watching the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi. Supreme irony - one of the pieces of music played is Mussorgsky's "Grand Gate of Kiev".